Summary: It was only one small gift, a gift that stood there all alone, yet Naruto still smiled.

RLN: YAY! NARUTO’S BIRTHDAY! I was thinking about doing a humor fic but I thought… no, Naruto’s birthday wouldn’t be funny... it’d be sad.

I wasn’t sure what to put for genre, because I can not decide what genre to put for crap. I put tragedy because it is kind of sad.

Also, I can not sad fics for crap, so do not be alarmed if this fic sucks beyond belief.

The Birthday Gift

Ignoring the glares of the adults, 7 going on 8 year old Naruto walked down the street. Tomorrow Naruto would finally become 8 years old. Although most people would be happy, everybody would cry on Naruto’s birthday, remembering when the fourth Hokage gave away his life for the sake of the village. Even Naruto, did not like when his birthday came around, because he was ignored and it was painful to be thrown away and glared at on your own birthday.

Naruto, not even noticing it, envied the average kids for being loved on their birthdays. Naruto was hated for a reason, a reason he did not know.

Naruto’s classmates weren’t exactly the nicest people, he was given a short spotlight when he made pranks but was made fun of by the others later, yet still, Naruto loved having the spotlight, because he absolutely hated being ignored.

The crisp autumn leaves crunched under Naruto’s feet as he quietly walked to his house. He didn’t have to worry about get there quickly; no one would be there to greet him when he got there. The cold fall wind blew through Naruto’s hair and Naruto had to squint his eyes to see through the dust and blowing leaves. Naruto heard voices as he passed the park and stopped to hear the conversation.

“Mommy, I want to stay outside,” whined a four year old boy.

“But we have to go home,” said his mother.

“I don’t wanna go home!”

Be thankful you have a home, Naruto thought bitterly, as he continued his way to his house. His house, never a home.

The first thing he did as he entered his house was eat simple cup ramen. Since Naruto never learned how to cook on his own, he had to stick with simple cup ramen, but he didn’t mind, he learned to love everything about ramen, except for waiting for it to cook of course.

Naruto finished his ramen and walked over to his small futon and plopped down lazily. He was tired especially that day for some reason. His hand grabbed the blanket tightly. It was an old blanket. He didn’t like it at all. One day, when he was much younger around five, the third Hokage had given him the blanket as a birthday gift, because his other one had been greatly worn out. It was the first and only gift Naruto had ever received. He cherished it greatly and one day, he came home from the ninja academy and found it shredded. Somebody had ripped his gift. Naruto was afraid to tell the Hokage about the blanket because he might’ve gotten angry or think that Naruto had done it. He tried sewing up the blanket to fix it, but it was never the same. The sewing was poorly done and Naruto pricked his finger several times when he labored over on fixing it.

Every week, the Hokage gave Naruto some money to buy food or other needs for the week. Sometimes, there was money left over. Naruto had been saving up the extra money to buy a big, new blanket.

Naruto’s eyelids became heavy as he fell asleep.

Morning came as quickly as Night did. Naruto woke up and realized he had to go to school; he changed his clothes and hurried off to school. Naruto managed to stay awake through class since he slept for a long time. School went by as slow as ever. Naruto was greatly bored. Naruto did not pull a single prank, because he didn’t want to get in trouble on his birthday.

Naruto headed his way out of the classroom but his teacher, Iruka, stopped him.

“Naruto?”

“What is it Iruka Sensei?” asked Naruto, fearing he would get a lecture. But Iruka didn’t scold him, instead he smiled.

“Today is you birthday, right?” he said. Naruto was surprised, both eyebrows rose. Naruto nodded slowly. Iruka laughed.

“Happy Birthday then,” he said. Naruto nodded slowly, still in a daze.

“Uh… thank you, Iruka Sensei,” he said, still shocked. He awkwardly left the room and kicked himself in the head for embarrassing himself by acting like an idiot.

Naruto same home and instead of going straight to the cupboard, he went to his bed. Sitting on his bed was a decoratively wrapped package. On top of it was a note. Naruto picked it up and read it. It was from the Hokage! The Hokage had sent him a birthday gift!

Naruto stared at the present. It was only one small gift, a gift that stood there all alone, yet Naruto still smiled. He put the note down and quickly opened his gift. Inside was this cute green frog wallet. Now he had a place to keep his extra money. When he walked, wallet in hand, he heard something jingle. He froze and looked in his wallet.

Inside was some money. Naruto was so happy he could’ve cried. He quickly dumped the coins on the kitchen table and quickly started counting his money.

It didn’t matter how much he got though, because he’d be happy either way.

THE END

RLN: Sorry I made this so short, it’s only two and a half pages long and it was rushed at the end. But I didn’t have time really. This is a one shot, so do not ask me to update. I hope you liked it. I may edit it later.